Kaiser Permanente: Supporting Breastfeeding with Partnership for a Healthier America
Kaiser Permanente has signed a commitment with the Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) to support breastfeeding as a benchmark of hospital quality and a key factor in preventing childhood obesity. According to Edward Ellison, MD, executive medical director-elect, Kaiser Permanente Southern California region,
“At Kaiser Permanente, we are committed to giving every baby the healthiest start possible. We believe in making the healthy choice the easy choice for mothers and families, so we are striving to support breastfeeding in our hospitals. We also promote and support breastfeeding as a key component of our comprehensive strategy to prevent childhood obesity.”
Kaiser Permanente has pledged that:
- By Jan. 1, 2013, all of Kaiser Permanente’s 29 hospitals that offer maternal and child health services will be designated as Baby-Friendly, and/or participate in the Joint Commission’s Perinatal Core Measures program, which requires participating hospitals to report their rates of exclusive breastfeeding at discharge.
- Kaiser Permanente will establish a system-wide performance improvement program focusing on the development and implementation of evidence-based hospital breastfeeding practices.
- Kaiser Permanente will develop and make publicly available a hospital breastfeeding practices guide that documents lessons learned and operational strategies that other systems can use to improve maternity care.
- To ensure accountability, Kaiser Permanente will include rates of exclusive breastfeeding at discharge as a core quality measure on its Quality Dashboard, which will be reviewed on a quarterly basis along with other hospital quality measures.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Institute of Medicine have all recommended breastfeeding as an important component in preventing childhood obesity as well. According to Lawrence A. Soler, CEO of PHA,
“We know that the risk of obesity is much lower for children who are breastfed, and...enabling more moms who want to breastfeed is critical to bringing down obesity rates. Kaiser Permanente’s commitment to make breastfeeding a priority for each child born in one of their hospitals has potential to make a very big impact, and we’re pleased they are such a strong partner in fighting childhood obesity.”
Is your hospital Baby-Friendly yet?


Share Article